Bump is one of the neatest apps ever. I initially downloaded Bump on my iPhone sometime early last year. After several months and only a few ‘bumps’ with my friends, I deleted the app and deemed it not a necessity on my iPhone. It was an app unworthy of taking up space on my phone.

Bump Screen Shot1

Not too long ago, one of my friends was talking about how awesome Bump was. My interest was piqued when he said, “You just bump the spacebar with your phone and then your items are transferred to the computer.” What? No way.

Yes way. The Bump app was updated recently. I immediately re-downloaded the app from the app store and started playing with it right away.

Other applications, or Google+, will synch your phone with your computer and transfer images – but not as fast as Bump. Bump happens instantaneously; no down time, lag time, or wait time.

How does it work?

Just select the photos you want to transfer in the Bump app on your mobile phone. Go to the Bump website on your computer. Tap your phone on the spacebar key to transfer the items. In order for the app to work, you MUST enable location sharing on your computer’s web browser. This is vital. If you do not authorize the use of location information, Bump won’t work.

The transferring computer/phone feature works only with recently updated web browsers (Firefox, Chrome, and Safari). You need a strong connection to the internet, too. Bump needs to be able to communicate with the apps servers. Bump uses any available internet connection on your device (Wi-Fi or 3g).

How does it really work?

The app running on your mobile device is linked to a matching (technical) algorithm running on the Bump servers in the ‘cloud’. When a spacebar is bumped, the app on your phone uses you’re your phone’s sensors to catch the ‘bump’ and the spacebar acts as a sensor to ‘feel the bump’ on the computer. The joining bumps send information to the server’s ‘cloud’. The algorithm connects and relays the information from your phone to your computer. Tricky, right?

All computers have a space bar. All iPhones and Androids should have the Bump app. Bump is free to download so there is no reason not to have the app. Bring your spacebar and phone closer together and start bumping.

Of course, Bump still does phone-to-phone sharing, too. Watch the video below to check it out:

To start bumping, visit bu.mp.

Written by Ami Reist.